People of Michigan v. Craig Dean

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 21, 2024
Docket354605
StatusUnpublished

This text of People of Michigan v. Craig Dean (People of Michigan v. Craig Dean) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People of Michigan v. Craig Dean, (Mich. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports.

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, UNPUBLISHED March 21, 2024 Plaintiff-Appellee,

v No. 354605 Wayne Circuit Court CRAIG DEAN, LC No. 86-006381-02-FC

Defendant-Appellant.

Before: CAVANAGH, P.J., and JANSEN and MALDONADO, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

In 1987, defendant and his codefendant, Darren Cross, were tried jointly by separate juries. Defendant was found guilty of first-degree felony murder, MCL 750.316, and sentenced to mandatory life in prison without parole. After remand from our Supreme Court, People v Dean, ___ Mich ___; 982 NW2d 183 (2022), defendant appeals as on leave granted1 from the trial court’s order denying his third motion for relief from judgment. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

The facts underlying defendant’s appeal are contained in his direct appeal in Docket No. 1004902: Defendants Craig Dean (“Dean”) and Darren Cross (“Cross”) were accused of an execution style killing committed during the robbery of a house at which drugs were sold. The main witness was Ricardo Smith (“Smith”), who had been at

1 See Dean, ___ Mich at ___; 982 NW2d at 183 (“Pursuant to MCR 7.305(H)(1), in lieu of granting leave to appeal, we REMAND this case to the Court of Appeals for consideration as on leave granted. . . .”). 2 Defendant’s appeal in Docket No. 100490 was consolidated with Cross’s appeal in Docket No. 101650. See People v Dean, unpublished per curiam opinion of the Court of Appeals, issued May 17, 1989 (Docket Nos. 100490; 101650), p 1.

-1- the house helping the victim sell drugs and who was an acquaintance of both defendants. Smith testified that when defendants came to the house, the victim let Dean inside. After talking for a short time, Dean asked the victim if he would let Cross in as well. Once inside, Cross displayed a handgun and directed Smith and the victim to give him all their money and drugs.

Following the robbery, Smith testified that Dean left the house with the stolen money and drugs. Cross then instructed Smith and the victim to sit on the floor with their backs to the wall. Although the victim complied, Smith opted to run from the room and jump through a nearby window. Smith related that he heard several gunshots go by him as he ran and then additional gunshots once he was outside. Subsequent investigation by the police disclosed that the victim died from a single gunshot wound to the chest area. [People v Dean, unpublished per curiam opinion of the Court of Appeals, issued May 17, 1989 (Docket Nos. 100490; 101650), pp 1-2.]

At the time of the offense, defendant was 19-years-old. During trial, the evidence suggested defendant and Cross robbed Smith and the victim because the victim owed defendant $650. Although defendant denied having a gun or being present for the shooting, he admitted to police that he instigated the robbery and instructed Smith to kill the victim. After sentencing, defendant appealed his conviction, which this Court affirmed. See Dean, unpub op at 2-4.

In March 1993, defendant filed his first motion for relief from judgment, claiming his Fifth Amendment rights were violated, there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction, prosecutorial error, improper jury instructions, and he was denied due process, a fair trial, and the effective assistance of counsel. In April 2004, defendant filed a second motion for relief from judgment, alleging improper jury instructions, insufficient evidence, and ineffective assistance of counsel. Both motions were denied by the trial court.

In December 2019, defendant, in propria persona, filed a third motion for relief from judgment under MCR 6.500 et seq., claiming he was entitled to resentencing because his sentence of life without parole, imposed when he was 19-years-old, constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, US Const, Ams VIII and XIV.3 Defendant asserted that he satisfied MCR 6.508(D)(3), claiming there was good cause for his failure to previously raise his argument because Miller v Alabama, 567 US 460; 132 S Ct 2455; 183 L Ed 2d 407 (2012) and Montgomery v Louisiana, 577 US 190; 136 S Ct 718; 193 L Ed 2d 599 (2016) were not decided until after he

3 “The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits ‘cruel and unusual punishments.’ US Const, Am VIII.” People v Taylor, 510 Mich 112, 124; 987 NW2d 132 (2022). By contrast, “the Michigan Constitution prohibits ‘cruel or unusual punishment.’ Const 1963, art 1, § 16 (emphasis added). Article 1, § 16 is thus interpreted more broadly than the Eighth Amendment.” Id. at 124 n 9 (citations omitted). In his third motion for relief from judgment, defendant cited only to US Const, Am VIII. However, on appeal, defendant cites to both US Const, Am VIII and Const 1963 art 1, § 16.

-2- filed his prior motions for relief from judgment. Additionally, relying on Cruz v United States, opinion of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, issued March 29, 2018 (Case No. 11-CV-787), vacated by 826 Fed Appx 49 (CA 2, 2020), defendant argued there was new evidence not discovered before his prior motions. In Cruz, the defendant introduced evidence showing the developmental differences between juvenile and adult brains. Because the Cruz court extended Miller to apply to 18-year-old offenders, defendant claimed there was good cause for failing to previously raise his argument. Defendant also argued that he was actually prejudiced because his “sentence is invalid where his non-parolable [sic] life sentence is maintained outside the protective provisions of Miller, [] and MCL 769.25a, and where he was unable to present this claim during his sentencing decades earlier.”

Defendant further argued that his mandatory sentence of life without parole was unconstitutional because the Supreme Court’s holdings in Miller and Montgomery should apply to 19-year-old offenders. Defendant, relying on Miller and its predecessors, claimed juvenile offenders were fundamentally different than their adult counterparts because, as a result of their underdeveloped brain, they demonstrate a lack of maturity and underdeveloped sense of responsibility, are more susceptible to the influence of peer pressure, and their personality traits are more transient. Based on these findings, the Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile to a mandatory sentence of life without parole without consideration of the characteristics of youth or the juvenile’s rehabilitative potential. Defendant, citing several federal and state court decisions applying Miller, claimed research on the brain development of adolescents showed there is no developmental distinction between 17-year-old and 21-year-old offenders. As such, defendant asserted Miller protections should apply to 19-year-old offenders.

Defendant also claimed, under an as-applied challenge to the constitutionality of his sentence, that his sentence constitutes cruel and unusual punishment because it fails to account for his youthful attributes, lack of culpability, and rehabilitative potential. Defendant contended his “reckless” and “impulsive” actions during the commissions of the robbery and resulting murder demonstrated his lack of maturity, underdeveloped brain, lack of foresight, irrational thinking, and inability to understand the consequences of his actions. Defendant also claimed “he lacked the ability to extricate himself from the horrific, crime producing setting[] that made him vulnerable to the negative influences of his environment,” because he was exposed to domestic violence, drugs, and poverty.

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People of Michigan v. Craig Dean, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-of-michigan-v-craig-dean-michctapp-2024.